Relegation rivals Yeovil went nine points clear from bottom-placed Dagenham & Redbridge to heap more misery on the East Londoners, as Youcef Dahmani reports.
A single goal from Brandon Goodship gave the visitors a crucial away win leaving John Still’s Dagenham and Redbridge side marooned at the foot of the table.
Still was clear about his team’s desperate plight. He said: “It was tough when we came here. It’s stayed tough, but I’ve tried to say to the players, before today that there was 45 points to play for. Forty-five is a hell of a load of points, but to get them points, we’re going to need to find goals”.
Still made three changes after the 3-2 away defeat at Mansfield Town. The first 20 minutes of the game saw both teams being unable to cause any sort of threat, before Liam O’Brien was tested by Marc Laird’s first time shot from the centre of the box.
Matthew Dolan went close with a direct free kick from 20 yards.
The Daggers’ first real chance came when Hawkins was through on goal, but he failed to put his weak effort past the Yeovil keeper.
Smash
The visitors were the grateful as Joss Labadie received a misplaced pass only to smash his effort just inches over the crossbar
Matt McClure came very close to scoring the first goal as he intercepted a ball near Yeovil’s goal, but his effort ended up going out for a goal kick.
It took Yeovil just five minutes into the second half to score, with Goodship calmly putting the ball past O’Brien with Laird providing the assist.
The Daggers then made an immediate change with Jodi Jones coming on for Matt Richards.
With 20 minutes of the game left, O’Brien managed to keep the Daggers in contention, producing a great save to prevent the visitors going 2-0 up, as he stopped Laird’s powerful low shot from outside the box.
Time and options were running out for the Daggers. Muldoon was unable to keep his shot low after a good delivery into the box by Jones.
Labadie aimed a great high pass to Doidge, who was standing in the middle of the box, however Artur Krysiak caught the ball, ensuring he kept a clean sheet and securing Yeovil’s precious victory.
Still added: “We never created enough goal scoring opportunities. We never found the opportunity to test the goalkeeper”.
Daggers: O’Brien; Hoyte, Worrall, Richards (Jones 52) Hyam, Widdowson; Hawkins (Doidge 71), Labadie(Capt), Muldoon, Boucaud, McClure (Cureton 63)
Attendance: 2,942